One Who Protects
by RandomFanFiction101
Summary: Guardian (n.): One who protects. One who upholds morality. The guardians of the last city give their lives daily in hopes of stemming the unrelenting tide of darkness and becoming legend. This is one such story that is not just a legend, but is truth, reality, and present. (T rating for mild language, violence and suggestive themes. Runs parallel to Destiny's timeline.)
1. Graduation

(A/N): I do not own Destiny, Bungie, nor any other groups associated with Destiny. I only one the original characters as well as the plot of this story.

 _Italics_ \- Indicates thoughts

 **One Who Protects**

Prologue

The legend of THE Guardian spreads like wildfire, and it grows with each passing day and with each new conquest. The effort of this single being of light has turned the tide of war, and just as Lord Shaxx had foretold, the guardians' role has changed from strictly defensive, to a full-blown offensive.

But not every legend started and shook the very foundations of existence within a few short years. Most took decades.

For most, honing and tuning one's light - learning and mastering just a single manifestation of The Traveler's power (solar, void, and arc) is a lifetime endeavor that requires great hardship, and an initial protective environment of a fireteam and an academy.

Yes, there exists a guardian academy, built to help integrate long dead humans (and neo-humans*) into their new roles.

For all but a rare few, the light is nearly inaccessible at rebirth, its most prominent feature merely being a flimsy shield. Some don't even have that.

This story will detail a particular legend, one that will run parallel with THE Guardian, but is far less known…

\- End prologue-

 **Chapter 1, part 1: Graduation**

"...Today is the day in which you all become full-fledged guardians, and take the fight to the Darkness…"

The central ground in which all guardians gathered to be debriefed, re-tasked, re-armed, and re-deployed in the Tower was jam packed full of cadets - novice guardians. An excited atmosphere hung above the heads of all who had gathered there.

Today would be the day they all became 'real' guardians. No more wall watch patrols, no more target practice, no more hours of poring over vast quantities of texts detailing every single formation and tactical approach and stratagem known to mankind.

Overlooking the courtyard, an awoken of an imposing stature addressed all of the soon-to-be guardians. His face was impassive, but even he was affected by the electrified mood that ran through the crowd. His voice seem to increase in volume and heart as he neared the end of his speech.

He boomed, "Guardians, go forth, and protect this great city, the Last City, with your light. May the Traveler's radiance guide you all."

A warlock said with a chuckle, "Evanescent, concise, and miniscule. Just like a titan. Now I know what they're overcompensating for with those tree trunks one could call arms."

A hunter next to him sneered. "Only a warlock would bother with saying the same thing three different ways. Just say 'short' and be done with it," he said.

"I'll crack both of your skulls if you don't shut up about Commander Zavala!" a titan threatened.

Before their squabble could devolve into a full-on fight, a distinctly female voice announced to the whole assembly, "Congratulations guardians. Please refer to the bounty board for fireteam assignments. Thank you, and may the Traveler's light guide you!"

On the outskirts of the group of rookies and standing next of the bounty board (now used as a posting for said fireteam assignments) was a collection of high level guardians; the vanguard.

One hunter who sat among them eyed out the three novices whom he would be responsible for.

For the next 2-3 years, a vanguard, or really any guardian with sufficient rank and experience, would be assigned to each fireteam as a temporary leader.

The Darkness was unpredictable, and the number of able and experienced guardians fell each year. If an untrained rookie or group of rookies were to pull the proverbial 'shortest straw' and happened to cross paths with a Fallen Archon on a supposedly quiet and easy patrol, they would never get a chance to accumulate enough experience to grow and become a powerful asset in the war against the looming Dark.

It was decided only a few years ago to add a fourth, more experienced member to each new fireteam to act as a mentor and as a sort-of quick response trooper to intervene if a mission went south and became beyond the abilities of the novices. However, more often than not, the vanguard mentor would stay in orbit and play commander for most of their missions.

The lone hunter had already learned of and scouted out his charges. It was a rare occurrence, as the groups were often randomly selected to promote versatility among differing allies, but his particular group would be a "One-of each" kind: One Sunsinger (Awoken), one Bladedancer (Human), and one Defender (Exo).

He spotted the warlock at the head of the group, eager to be the first to know where she would be placed. The hunter smiled. " _Just as I thought."_

A quick glance also proved his guess right. The hunter was standing in the middle, his body posture absolutely screaming impatience. The vanguard hunter frowned, having hoped it wasn't THAT bad. Of all of the so-called "classes" hunters possessed the greatest discipline. It was necessary, as most of their abilities and skills with knives and long range rifles required a focused mind. Impatience has killed many hunters over the years.

Moving on from the lackluster second guardian, the normally astute veteran nearly missed the last one, and mistook him for a stature at first glance. The titan stood dead last with a posture and rigidness only capable of an unfeeling machine. Again, he sighed with displeasure. Most Exos adopted at least some kind of 'natural sway.' Even Banshee-44 liked to 'fidget' every once in awhile. To them, it was unnecessary, and they often did away with it in combat situations. However, they adopted it in social situations as a way to… fit in a little better, and feel good about themselves.

The fact that this particular Exo had done no such thing implies either a slight failure in the motor cortex pathway of the Exo's brain (an astronomically low chance occurrence even in the most likely of situations), or more likely, the Exo simply CHOSE not to, foregoing sociability for practicality.

All-in-all, his team was already showing signs of being the least cohesive one here. And they haven't even met each other yet.

" _A try-hard, a hyperactive, and a stoic… I've got my work cut out for me, don't I?"_

Sigh.

-End of Chapter 1, part 1-

 _(A/N):_ My first story! Please comment, fav., follow, etc. It really helps! I swear I'll try my best to respond to all comments.

UPDATE: Fixed a few missed errors. Added a new paragraph to add clarity to the v-guard teacher's duty.

*Neo-humans- or "New" humans. Basically what I'm going to use when I am referring to Awoken, Humans, and Exos collectively.


	2. Meet and Greet

**I do not own Destiny, Bungie, nor any affiliates. I own only the story and the Original Characters.**

-—-—-—-—-—-

 **One Who Protects**

Chapter 1: Meet and Greet

Gale wasn't your average awoken warlock. She was pretty, beautiful to some, even. Like the mythical queen of the awoken, she had a fair blue complexion, and platinum blonde hair. Unlike the queen, however, Gale wore had green eyes and wore her hair up in a tidy bun; opting to go for the sharp and clean kind of beauty as opposed to the queen's wild and dangerous look. However, Gale cared not for her beauty. Above all else, she was a prodigy of the academy.

Gale was always on top, always the first, always the best in everything she did. The day she was reborn, Gale had committed herself, body and soul, to fighting the Darkness. In this war, half-ass got you killed. One could not become legend simply by being lazy. Only the best would be forever known, like Osiris. Though he is known as the "Exile," he was the best and brightest of his time. Gale had resolved to be like Osiris, only better, and she would let no one get in her way.

Which is why she had mixed feelings about her fireteam assigment.

Glancing at the bounty board, she had quickly located and read the names:

* * *

Novice Redacted-XX; Defender

Novice Sverre; Bladedancer

Novice Gale; Voidwalker

Vanguard Fox; Gunslinger

* * *

The Exo, Redacted-XX, was a new kind of anti-social all on his own. He, lacking any real name and refusing to simply make one up, simply named himself Redacted-XX. During the academy days, he tended to stay alone, unless he was forced to team up. He was an inexplicable anomaly, even amongst the other Exos, and Gale tended to dislike inexplicable anomalies (She **loved** the explicable kind, though). However, she could tolerate him because she knew that he would at least stay out of her way.

Just looking at the next name gave her nausea like no other. She had to pinch the bridge of her nose, ignoring the increasingly antsy line that was behind her

Now Sverre... Out of all of the others here, why in the world did one of her fireteam members **have** to be Sverre? The human had to be one of the most annoying, nosy, unmotivated jerks that Gale ever had the displeasure of knowing, in this life or the last. He always looked like he had somewhere to be, but just loafed around all the time, staring into space. To top it all off, he was extremely temperamental. He was fast; top of their class at the very least when it comes to sheer speed. However, he never gave **anything** his all, never tried really hard, never seemed to have any sense of class or respect, always just did things as quick as he could just to be done with it...

"Uggh," she groaned. "What a waste of Light."

The line behind her started to get really ornery. She could hear the impatient shuffle of boots on grass and pavement as the quiet whispering started to grow into shouts of discontent. The atmosphere grew heavy for a moment.

"C'mon! What's taking so long?" a titan shouted, "Just look at the names and get moving!"

"Of course it would be a Warlock holding up the line, so slow and indecisive," the hunter next to him murmured.

The warlock standing between the two scowled and threatened, "Just shut up you two, your rude and unnecessary shouting is only going to prolong our wait." He turned toward Gale and said aloud, "Take your time, sister, and formulate your plan to perfection!"

She smiled, and wished that her fireteam had been filled with entirely warlocks. At least then she wouldn't have to dumb down her own speech just so the gun-crazy idiots around her didn't strain their lobes trying to comprehend even the first word that she said.

She nodded toward the group of malcontents and the warlock, and then made off for her Vanguard mentor. While she would have preferred a warlock as a mentor, she knew how hunters, especially gunslingers, worked when it came to teaching. They ran a hands-off method, and would not participate much in the development of the team itself. This was because of their own tendency to be a "lone wolf" and therefor they teach how they were taught. To be independent. He would not interfere with her goals, at least. Vanguard by the end of the decade...

"Vanguard Fox, huh?" she mused aloud. "I've never heard of him before..."

It was a mystery, one that she was innately excited to solve, but she held it down as she scanned the bustling courtyard area for the guardian that matched the name of the one posted on the bounty board. With her tiny implant-like connection to the light, she and most other guardians are able to detect things that were nearby to them, like objectives and enemies. Also, each guardians name light up in her mind as she glanced at them, like a FoF tag.

She found her target sitting on a box and talking to Banshee-44, the gunsmith. Unlike the rest of the vanguard, he seemed to prefer to not be in the company of his peers, as speaking to Banshee was almost the equivalent of speaking to yourself. She cleared her throat to speak.

"I-"

"You're Gale, right?" Fox stopped her before she could say anything else. "I'm Fox. 'Course you probably already know that, but a custom is a custom."

Gale bowed respectfully and said, "Yes, I-"

"Great, now we just sit and wait for the others," he interrupted her again.

Gale felt her eye twitch. It was bad manners to interrupt someone, but doing it to a warlock was a heinous crime in and of itself. It was a pet peeve for the knowledge hungry guardians, and one that even the dumbest and most self-confident of the hunters and titans did well to remember. Gale decided to let it slide due to his high ranking status, and the fact that his loner nature had probably dulled his manners.

She bowed again, and upon sitting down continued to introduce herself. "I am a-"

"Save the extended introductions for later, you're just wasting your breath."

She had to actively disguise her feelings of intense **dislike** toward being cut off, again. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands. This man was a veteran, he had to know the unspoken rule of decency when in a dialogue with a warlock. Even if he didn't, wasn't it still considered rude to do so, anyway?

She glanced toward the bounty board again and noticed that the line had moved considerably already. In fact, Sverre was already on his way over. His very posture only served to further increase her pent-up agitation. He walked with no hurry, his hands resting atop his head in an arrogant fashion, and made frequent stops to talk to his hunter buddies that were already meeting up with their groups.

When he had finally made it to where she stood with Fox, Gale was pretty sure that she was going to die of old age.

"Whatsup?" he asked in a dull tone. "The name's Sverre."

Sverre had light brown hair that he grew long and then slicked back. His dark brown eyes were hazed over with disinterest, while the rest of his body fidgeted and struggled with something to do.

Fox simply nodded and continued a one-sided with a grunting Banshee-44 on the importance of equipping the right weapon for the job **before** one were to get into a firefight.

Gale saw a look of clear agitation at being practically ignored cross Sverre's face. Unfortunately for the warlock, he turned his attention to her instead.

"What's his deal?" he asked. "The only thing interesting about Banshee-44 is his guns..."

The statement was made with no attempt to disguise it. Fox would have to have been deaf not to hear it. However, he simply continued on with his conversation.

Gale shrugged, and was shamefully delighted to see Sverre become visibly pissed off by the lack of meaningful verbal responses he was getting.

Internally, Gale was also seething. First, Fox did whatever he could to interrupt her, and now all of the sudden, he refuses to even say a word. As much as she hated to admit it, Sverre has a good point

 _What is this guy's problem?_

A series of loud and disturbingly perfectly measured steps brought Gale out of her thoughts and Sverre's attention to a huge Exo. This was definitely Redacted-XX.

"Greeting, organics... Banshee-44." He nodded to the Exo standing behind a counter that was stocked with various Omolon, Hakkë, and Suros weapons. "I am Redacted-XX. I look forward to working with you to further our crusade against the Darkness."

He looked anything but eager to Gale.

"Redacted," Fox said, his attitude doing another 'one-eighty,' "How're you? Fine? Excellent. Let's get going with the introductions. You first Redact."

If Redacted-XX had actually chosen to use and show emotions, Gale was pretty sure he would be using the "Screw you" one right now.

"As I stated eight point six-seven seconds ago, my name is Redacted-XX," he said monotonously. "My class is Titan, my race is exo, my subclass is Defender, my purpose is to expunge the darkness from this galaxy through the light, my photoreceptors blue-42, red-16, yellow-8, my chassis is a type-A human male format, my primary and secondary shadings for my chassis are black and gray, respectively-"

"Okay, okay you walking archive unit," Sverre quipped. "We don't need the whole thing, just enough to, y'know, get to know each other."

"Your words are contradictory, is sharing a plethora of needless information not a human custom for 'getting to know each other?' please further explain your meaning." Ouch, it seems that even Redacted could torch an idiot real good.

"What was that?" Sverre asked, red faced.

Redacted-XX simply stared at him and spoke,"I said-"

"I know what you said, you scrap heap!"

"Then why did you ask the question? Your words continue to be confounding as well as needlessly derogatory."

Sverre, after having been slighted four times in a row and now absolutely raging, made a motion for his knife that was faster than even Gale could keep up with. His left hand closed around the hilt and was in the process of unsheathing the deadly weapon that hung on his belt when he realized that something was restricting his movement. He saw that a gauntleted hand had wrapped tightly around his own limb. When he looked up, he was staring into the helmeted face of Fox.

"That's enough, you two," Fox commanded. "You can save your rivalry and smart-ass comments for when you get into the practice ring."

Sverre gritted his teeth, and then realized something: Fox had to have been sitting at least fifteen feet away from the Sverre, and had somehow caught Sverre before he could even draw his knife. A Bladedancer on a blade draw was the fastest thing alive. This means that either Fox had been expecting Sverre to eventually lose his temper, or the **G** **unslinger** had been faster than the **Bladedancer**.

Sverre resolved to believe the prior, as it was far less embarrassing than excepting that a slower sub-class had beaten you. At least he was a hunter, though. If Fox had been a titan, Sverre was sure that Redacted-XX would have been in pieces before the vanguard had even stood up.

The Bladedancer released his grip on his knife and glanced at his would-be target.

Redacted-XX didn't give any indication that Fox's observation that he had been intentionally playing stupid had gotten to him. Bet then again, nothing rarely did get to him.

Once Fox was satisfied that both of the two were done and weren't going to try anything stupid, he casually strolled over to his seat on the box again, and then motioned for Sverre to go next with a wave of his hand.

Sverre ground his teeth a little more, and said with barely concealed anger, "Name's Sverre. Bladedancer. I like knives. Done."

Gale was smiling throughout everything. Sverre must've been **really** ticked for him to define himself in only six words. She had been expecting to be here all day just listening to the novice hunter prattle on and on about himself, giving a long yet still somehow empty speech on the story of his life.

Fox either didn't notice or didn't care about Sverre's hypocritical lackluster dialogue. He nodded toward Gale to start her introduction. She nodded back at him, then turned to address the group as a whole:

"My name is Gale, and I am an Awoken Voidwalker. My order and I enjoy the gathering of vast quantities of new and long forgotten-"

"Alright," Fox interjected, yet again, "Now that we've gotten to know each other, why don't we do even better, and get with some sparring in the practice ring? Does a three-v-one sound good? You three against me?"

In the minds of both the Bladedancer and the Voidwalker, the vanguard Gunslinger was already on the floor, beaten and broken. In the mind of the Defender, the Exo wondered if he was going to be able to reach the end of the week without being dismantled by his own 'fireteam.'

-End-

Hey-o! Finally got it done. And it was all done on my shiny new lap-top. Yay!

So as I promised, this chapter is far larger (this was 2,300 words to the previous chapters 1,167, making it quite literally twice the size of chapter 1). The next chapter is going to pick up in the action a little (they **are** going to the sparring ring), but considering that I very rarely write action scenes, I'm going to need everyone's help in trying to make sure it is the best that I can make it, and that everyone can enjoy it thoroughly.

Once again, please review, fav., follow, whatever! It helps bunches and gives me inspiration to continue on writing!

(P.S., I play Destiny on the XboxOne, so if anyone wants to shoot me a request, my GT is th3blAkm1st. See you all in the upcoming DLC, Rise of Iron!)


	3. Sparring Match

**I do not own Bungie, Destiny, etc. I only own the story and its original characters. Please Enjoy!**

* * *

"The rules are simple. Strike me at least once in any manner of your choice, excluding weapons, and you win. 3v1; should be fair, right? I won't even use my light. We will begin after stretches."

The newly formed fireteam stood in a rough circle on a crucible sponsored practice ring, and were going through a quick routine of stretches; cramps often sucked worse than dying. They had all stripped down to plain form-fitting suits to promote a more fair battle, as Fox's armor made the novices' look like a flimsy plastic bag that they had put on over their heads.

When he had finally removed his helmet, Gale and Sverre had to suppress the urge to gasp at Fox's visage. His face was handsome, but marred by countless scars, including one that stretched from his left temple to his right cheekbone. His hair was a platinum blonde, and was cut short. None of that was altogether surprising. When one was a being that was practically undying and could be revived over and over again, one tended to accumulate MANY death scars. And guardians came in all sorts of various shapes and sizes, so the hair and looks was also not out of the norm.

What was Most striking, however, were his eyes. One was a burning golden, the other was an electric blue. Heterochromia is rare itself, but then so were having iris colors so bright that they _glowed._

Sverre, tearing his gaze away from the Gunslinger, couldn't resist commenting, "So, what do we get if we win?" He had to know, if only to weigh whether or not this deserved his full attention, or if he should just blow this exercise off.

Fox shrugged, and said plainly, "The knowledge of the fact that you just won. Pride?"

Sverre exhaled. He was clearly not pleased with the answer. Immediately, he stopped stretching and snorted, "Fine, let's just get this over with then."

"I would finish your stretches, human. I know not of your psychological tolerance to pain, but it is most uncomfortable when my servos seize, and lock-up," Redacted-XX stated, matter-of-factly.

"Relax, you glorified Frame, it's not like this is rea-"

The world suddenly dropped out from under his feet, and where he had been looking at Redacted-XX, he suddenly found that he was staring up at the lights on the ceiling. Then, a crushing force came down upon his gut, and his body slammed into the mat. **Hard.**

The wind rushed from his lungs, and pain racked his body. A shadow crossed over his vision. Fox was standing over the fallen Bladedancer.

"I see that you're done with your stretches, **Newborn**. You also had no guard whatsoever, that didn't even take me two seconds," Fox scolded.

Sverre barely managed to gasp out, "D-damn... y-you..."

Fox smiled down at him condescendingly. Then, realization dawned on his face, as if he remembered something important.

"Ah, yes! I almost forgot to mention! If none of you can get a real hit in on me in five minutes, you lose, and you're all failing and going back to the academy for another year."

Redacted-XX clenched his fists, his face remaining relatively passive.

Gale started in shock, then grit her teeth in grim determination. _I can't fail here! I have to hit him! But how? He's so fast. He was able to drop Sverre, the fastest of the three of us, before I could even blink._

For a minute, all was quiet. Fox retreated to the center of the mat, allowing Sverre to struggle back to his feet.

 _One hit. One hit was all it took to make me feel like I'd just played chicken with a Striker running at full steam and forgot how to turn. Was he even trying?_

While the Gunslinger fought to regain his bearings, Fox wasted no time. He wasn't going to play the role of some karate monk and just stand there while his disciples tried to take something from his hand. Either they were going to be the aggressor, or he was. When you were fighting the minions of the dark, losing your momentum meant being outnumbered, overwhelmed, killed, and stripped of all of your light.

In the span of less than two seconds he was upon Gale and swinging. The Warlock had been smart enough to immediately set her stance and put her weight on her back foot in a defensive stance. Immediately, she pivoted her body toward the right to cause Fox's right hook to miss... and then realized that it had been a feint. The unstoppable Gunslinger pulled back his right arm and kicked with a vicious left roundhouse on Gale's now exposed gut.

The kick sent the awoken flying back 5 yards away, coughing and wheezing.

Fox moved onto his next target. His sharp eyes scanned the unmoving Titan, who's stance was perfectly centered and lowered down to shift his center of gravity. It was a stance all defenders knew almost on instinct. When they entered said stance, it was said that even the most unstoppable force would break against the Titan. Fox knew it well -many Hunters and Warlocks begrudgingly praised its usefulness-, and with only a little more practice on how to control light, he knew that Redacted-XX could reach the next stage with ease and create a Dome of Light.

-Strikers and Defenders are both, surprisingly, required to be taught extra classes in the study of physics. Strikers rely heavily on momentum to be able to leap or charge with their various arc-based abilities. Defenders, inversely, must learn inertia and friction, as their abilities rely on being unmovable and unbreakable. -

But, for now, Redacted-XX could barely summon the light enough for a shield, and Fox didn't **have** to break his stance either.

"Just above four minutes left, guys. C'mon and show me what you got!"

He simply ignored the Defender. If Redacted moved, his entire form would be thrown off, Fox knew. Skilled ones could maintain a controlled balance while still in motion, but Redacted-XX wasn't experienced enough yet to master it.

Fox went back to the recently recovered Sverre. He lashed out with a flurry of jabs and crosses that the Bladedancer was barely able to avoid, and only with a significant boost from what little light he was able to call upon.

 _Jab-Jab-Cross-Jab-Cross-Hook-Jab-Jab..._

 _"Good._ Excellent dodging, but can you match with an equally impressive offensive?"

Sverre couldn't possibly have hoped to mount a counter attack, not while in the middle of the storm of Fox's furious fists. As each moment passed, Sverre could feel the strength leaving his body at an alarming rate. Overuse of light could cause fatigue and loss of consciousness, Sverre had heard. Worse yet, if the user were somehow able to maintain consciousness, they could risk losing every last ounce of light within them and then dying. One thing that the unfortunate fools who die of overuse of light forget is that it was that very light that was keeping them alive and not going back to how their Ghost had found them -dead and rotting.

After his reserves ran out, Sverre felt fatigued to his very bones. He was about to collapse, but his slowed reflexes would prove to be his end first. One of Fox's jabs caught the Bladedancer on the chin. It was a glancing blow, but enough to throw off his balance, and a half second later Fox's right cross slammed directly on his sternum. Once again, Sverre found himself on his back. Fox backed off to the center of the mat. He noticed, disappointedly, that Redacted-XX had yet to move at all.

"If this keeps up, I just might throw in a mercy rule... I'd rather not have to send you all to your first deaths on our first sparring match," Fox taunted.

 _H-how...? How can we beat him?_ Sverre panicked, fighting through the pain. He could feel something rising up within him. _He's too fast, too skilled, too experienced. I-I can't... No, I won't... I-_

Gale had gotten up and shook off the fog that clouded her pain racked mind and gut. She hurriedly analyzed the situation, feeling just as distraught as Sverre.

 _...I don't see any chinks in his defenses. Nothing! The only place is his blind spot on the back of his head, but he's too fast. We're too busy just trying to dodge his fists in front of him to be able to get behind him. How can any one person-..._

Gale had come to a realization. She glanced around at her teammates: Redacted was standing as still as a statue, and Sverre was struggling to get back up.

... _So that's your angle, huh?_ She looked to Fox. As if he knew she was looking at him, his own eyes met her gaze. The Voidwalkers breath caught in her throat. She fought to push down her emotions and readied herself for another attack.

"Three minutes. I think it's ov-"

"-Not yet!" Gale shouted. "Bring it on, I've still got fight left!"

She swore she saw a proud smile on Fox's face before it was quickly replaced with a face of implacable strength. He lunged forward. It looked reckless, but Gale knew that it was just a feint. She quickly started scooting toward her left -towards Redacted-XX- while keeping her eyes on the Vanguard Hunter that was throwing wild swings in her direction. She kept a safe distance -as safe as she could manage- from the hunter.

After a few seconds of dancing around, Gale found herself in front of Redacted-XX, whom seemed unfazed by the fact that the fight was finally coming toward him. She stood still for a moment, waiting on Fox. The Gunslinger threw a powerful haymaker that looked like it could put her out for days if it connected. But she wouldn't give him the chance.

 _3...2...1...Now!_

At the last moment, Gale dove out of the way. Fox's punch barely missed her, and instead over-extended toward Redacted-XX. The Defender was more than ready for the hit, and raising his huge arms he took the already weakened blow. Fox shuddered upon contact, his failed all-in attack having been stopped like he punched a steel wall.

Gale went in for the kill, so to speak. She planned on capitalizing on Fox's moment of shock to hit him.

Raising her palm up, she stepped up and thrust it forward with a burst of her own light flowing through it. She didn't have to make direct contact, only just close enough to hit him, and then she would-

"Nice try, but not quite good enough."

Her palm was stopped a foot from his face, too far for her special warlock melee to do little more than give him a slight caress of his cheek. The blocked punch hadn't stunned him nearly as much as Gale thought it would.

" You look too much into your opponents, thinking you can read them. You don't realize that your opponents can do the very same. You didn't think that I knew that Redacted-XX was already there?" Fox questioned.

However, he would give the trapped Warlock no time to respond as he reared up his leg and shot it out in a brutal side kick to Gale's hip. The blow didn't hurt as much as a gut shot, but it still sent her spinning away, long enough for Fox to disengage from the Exo and dodge a half-assed punch that went sailing over his head. Footsteps reached his ears.

"Don't forget about me!" Sverre roared from behind Fox.

Fox dove forward and rolled to his feet to face the charging Bladedancer. Fox raised his eyebrows at what he saw. Sverre was unrestrained, and lacked all semblance of discipline, but the occasional flash of blue that crackled about his body was a telltale sign to Fox that Sverre had entered a combat trance. His body shook and jittered with unleashed arc light. Like Redacted-XX, Sverre's version of his respective sub-class was still in its basic form, as it lacked a controlled mind, a full coating of armor-like arc light, and the most important part -the blade. However, he would still be a force to reckon with.

He was blindingly fast, much faster than Fox, probably. In a half second, Fox went from full offense to on the defensive. Fox was pushed to his physical limits to block or dodge Sverre's onslaught.

But just as soon as it started, it was over. A mere few seconds later, Sverre's arc light was completely used up, and he fell unconscious mid-punch. He hit the mat face first and skidded forward to Fox's feet.

Fox sighed, and thought to himself, _Too bad, another handful of moments and he might've gotten me. This group has talent, but no cohe-_

And then Fox realized where he was. The Bladedancer had drove him back to his teammates again!

A massive hand reached out, and instead of risking missing with a punch, clenched down onto the Gunslingers arm. Fox kicked outward with his leg, and it connected with the Exo's side, but unlike the other two, Redacted-XX only flinched a little, his grip unwavering.

Fox discovered his mistake, but it was too late. His threat did not lie with the Exo, but with the Warlock that was already mid-thrust.

"Take this!"

Fox pivoted, trying to dodge the blow. As fast as he was, he still could not dodge it completely. The strike glanced off his side, and he felt a powerful punch-like force slam against it.

Moving with the force of the hit, Fox spun and smashed the back of heel into the side of Gale's head. He then completed the turn and faced Titan in front of him. Redacted-XX tried reaching with his other hand to restrain the Fox, but he was far too slow. With his free hand, Fox crouched and swung upwards with all his might. The blow connected under the Exo's chin, just like it had with Gale, and hit so hard that it even caused the heavy Titan to nearly lift up off the ground. Detecting a serious amount of damage, Redacted-XX's internal systems immediately shut down to prevent any self-inflicted harm to his now weakened spinal and cranial areas.

Long story short, Redacted-XX was also out cold.

Fox stood there, the last man standing. He had not even broken a sweat, had not used any of his light, and had only a dull throb in his side from the glancing blow Gale had landed.

 _But a glancing blow is still a blow._ He smiled enthusiastically, and meandered over to Gale, whom was the only one still conscious. Leaning down, to face her, Fox said, "Looks like you passed. Excellent work! I'm sorry about not stopping after you had hit me, it's just instinctual to go on, y'know?" Fox paused, and then went on casually, "Rest up, our first patrol mission is tomorrow morning."

Gale let out a sigh of incredible relief, and then joined her new teammates in their realm of unconsciousness.

* * *

 **Aaaand it's finally done! And it's only like... two days late. Hoorah!**

 **Tell me what you thought of this little fight scene. It's the first that I've ever attempted, and I'm a little anxious to find out if it's good enough to paint a vivid picture in your heads. I also feel that maybe that I took it a little too slow, not fast enough for a real fight scene. However, I also felt that I needed to get everyone's fighting styles down, y'know? To give you a feel of what they will be fighting like when I DO get to a fast-paced scene in here, so you won't have to be guessing.**

 **Also! A little side note on naming (Why I picked those names/What do they mean):**

 **Sverre: Means "wild" or "restless" in Norwegian. I figured his "Could-care-less" attitude, and volatile nature (as seen above) fit with name perfectly. Plus, it's a cool looking name! :P**

 **Gale: Is a diminutive of "Abigail" whom was the beautiful and intelligent third wife of the Old Testament (Hebrew) King David. Though she isn't some old and long dead dudes third wife, she is most definitely intelligent, and considered quite beautiful amongst the Awoken. *WARNING* This in no way indicates my religious affiliation, I simply used the name 'cuz I like it. In fact, the only reason I know the above information is because I looked it up...**

 **Redacted-XX: Redacted meaning "Removed" or "Censored." This is to say that the Exo has no real name -he gave himself none. He doesn't even have the numbers after the name!**

 **Fox: Is most definitely NOT his real name, just one he goes by, for now (you will know what I mean later). It still fits him, given that he is a Hunter, so he's sneaky 'n fast. 'Nuff said.**

 **As always, Please plz plz plz PLEASE review and fave and follower and etc. and more etc... It keeps me goin'!**

 **-RandomFanFiction101**


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